Minority type thing was not glamorous

Then as now, in pursuit of serious academics

"Hawaii was a little too perfect," Palin [better known as Lynn Vincent] writes. "Perpetual sunshine isn’t necessarily conducive to serious academics for eighteen-year-old Alaska girls." Perhaps not. But Palin’s father, Chuck Heath, gave a different account to Conroy and Walshe. According to him, the presence of so many Asians and Pacific Islanders made her uncomfortable: "They were a minority type thing and it wasn’t glamorous, so she came home."

— The New Yorker